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How public bodies are embedding the Well-being of Future Generations Act

Transport for Wales – embedding well-being to guide their decision making

There are currently 56 public bodies who are subject to the Well-being of Future Generations Act and who by law must carry out ‘sustainable development’, including setting and publishing well-being objectives and taking all reasonable steps to meet them. At Cynnal Cymru we’ve been working directly with several of the public bodies mentioned in the Act, supporting them to meet their well-being goals.

Our team are currently working with Transport for Wales (TfW) to develop a bespoke Carbon Literacy training course for their employees. Did you know TfW are one of the latest organisations to become a named body under the Act? This happened in June 2024, and means they are responsible for reporting their progress under the legislation. In April 2025, TfW released their well-being statement, outlining their plan to meet the goals set out within the Act and the well-being objectives they are focusing on to enable future generations to thrive. The four well-being objectives they’ve developed to guide their decision-making are:

  1. Enabling people and communities
  2. Benefiting the environment
  3. Supporting local areas and the economy
  4. Elevating Welsh culture and language

TfW are embedding this future-focused and long-term thinking approach in practice through a number of recent projects, including the development of the South Wales Metro project and an increase in the number of pioneering “tri-mode” electric trains, combined with their ambitious Network North Wales initiative launched earlier this year.

How Natural Resources Wales are helping to restore our peatlands

During our Carbon Literacy training with Natural Resources Wales (NRW), we were excited to hear how they are successfully restoring peatlands across Wales as part of the the National Peatland Action Programme (NPAP). This is an excellent example of how different organisations are working together under the Act to:

  • capture and store carbon
  • regulate greenhouse gases
  • maintain biodiversity
  • regulate water

Wales smashes peatland restoration target

“Wales continues to exceed its national peatland restoration target, restoring over 3,600 hectares of damaged peatland – the equivalent of more than 3,600 rugby fields – in just five years.

This nature-based climate action is estimated to deliver an emissions saving equal to taking 6,840 cars off the road.”

How public bodies are embedding the Well-being of Future Generations Act Read More »

Creating an “ah-ha” moment to help embed sustainability into ColegauCymru’s DNA

ColegauCymru is a membership organisation that represents the interests of further education institutions across Wales. In recognising the collective need to embrace sustainability, ColegauCymru joined Cynnal Cymru seeking advice and networks towards creating a more sustainable future.

Challenge:

Like many other organisations, they have become increasingly aware of their need to coordinate actions on emerging sustainability trends, goals, and regulations, and to be able to set a positive example. As a result, the team approached Cynnal Cymru seeking support on how best to proceed.

Our approach:

Instead of making a series of recommendations on a report that would have gone unnoticed, we proposed creating an “ah-ha” moment.

We were fortunate that the team who spoke with us said, “We think everyone in this organisation should be part of it” ! It was music to our ears. After all, as we often say, everyone, no matter what title they hold, can have insights and expertise about sustainability.

So, on a rainy Monday morning, we turned, for a few hours, an entire organisation into researchers, system thinkers and consultants!

ColegauCymru have mapped out their operations to better understand their positive and negative impacts across the value chain and have outlined the key pillars of action. In doing so, the entire team appreciated how their organisation fits into the world and what they must aim for.

Impact:

As one of the participants said, “Perhaps our vision then should be about sustainability…?”

When we heard it, we knew the workshop created an “ah-ha” moment. How come?  At Cynnal Cymru, we firmly believe that a tick-box approach to sustainability will not be able to address the challenges facing organisations and will most definitely not help societies and nature to meet their most basic needs, let alone thrive. So, to lead by example, organisations must embed sustainability into their DNA rather than have a separate, official version, vision, mission and strategy.

ColegauCymru Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Rachel Cable, said,

“We’re grateful for the support and guidance provided by the Cynnal Cymru team at this workshop, which was a great first step in our sustainability journey.

ColegauCymru is committed to making our organisation more sustainable, and we hope in time to be able to share our learnings with the colleges in our membership as well as our other partner organisations. This workshop was useful in encouraging us to think differently about how we work and how we can make improvements in all aspects of our sustainability journey, and not just our professional lives.

We look forward to continuing to work with Cynnal Cymru in laying the foundations for our onward journey.”

Creating an “ah-ha” moment to help embed sustainability into ColegauCymru’s DNA Read More »

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